Oil Painting, 'Two Lovers in Renaissance Costume on the Terrace in the Garden of the Villa d'Este, Tivoli', Italian School, second half of the 19th century

A man and a woman in Renaissance costume seated on a bench on a terrace in the gardens of the Villa d'Este at Tivoli, with two classical statues on the balustrade behind them and two dogs at their feet.

Given by Mme Postma

Given by Mme Postma, 1899.

Historical significance: This painting is probably an oil sketch for a mural decoration in the Neo-renaissance style, a trend that came into fashion during the second half of the 19th century. It shows two lovers in typical Renaissance costumes, sitting on a bench on a terrace in the garden of Villa d'Este in Tivoli. Two greyhounds are at their feet. Considered as the dogs of the aristocracy, they were often used as an emblem, often in tombs, at the feet of the effigies of gentlemen, symbolizing the knightly virtues (faith), occupations (hunting) and generally the aristocratic way of life from the Middle ages onwards. Dogs in general are also interpreted as a symbol of fidelity. On top of the balustrade behind them, are two classical statues of nymphs: one playing the flute and the other holding a cornucopia, which complete this idyllic scenery.
The subject matter vaguely recalls the great love stories of the Renaissance period such as the story of Paolo and Francesca, narrated by Dante in the Divine comedy (Inferno, 5) and celebrated by Ingres (1780-1867) and Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882), but also Romeo and Juliet and so on.
This painting is a good example of the Neo-Renaissance trend that came into fashion during the 2nd half of the 19th century and spread all over Europe. In Italy in particular, artists drew on the Renaissance sources, which became a model just as antiquity had previously been as it met the search for the new qualities of beauty, harmony and dignity.
This search corresponded to the changing social climate, especially in Italy with the unification of the Italian states, called Risorgimento, and aroused a great interest in the rest of Europe. In the 1870s, manuals on interior decoration had peremptorily introduced the style among those to be prioritised in domestic décor, thereby ensuring that Renaissance forms were now customary in private dwellings, and especially in those rooms destined for ostentatious display, which sometimes provided the excuse to parade wealth.

An oil sketch is a type of painted work of small dimensions that first appeared in the 16th century. It derives from the Renaissance practice of preparatory drawings in pen and ink and is generally executed as a preparatory study in mixed oil and tempera for a finished larger work as an alternative to drawings. The finish of these studies, often called modello, can be more or less refined. The earliest known oil sketches are by Polidoro da Caravaggio (ca. 1497-ca. 1543) but the technique spread quickly among the artists including Federico Barocci (1528-1612), Cristofano Allori (1577-1621), Tintoretto (1519-1594 ) and Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (1609-1664 ) and became an important feature of the Baroque art. Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) for example is one of the greatest examples of Baroque artists' use of the oil sketch and contributed to introduce its practice in Flanders. This method benefits to both artists and patrons as not only the artists were able to present and promote their work through these support but the patrons could also request an oil sketch to evaluate a project at an early stage. Sometimes considered as a works of art in se, oil sketches were also offered by the artists to connoisseurs. Oil sketches were still favoured during the Rococo and the Romantic period but at the end of the 19th century, the artists tent to paint more and more directly on the support, abandoning thus gradually the oil sketch in its function as a preparatory study.

This painting is probably a preparatory sketch for a mural decoration in the Neo-renaissance style, which came into fashion during the second half of the 19th century. It shows two lovers in the gardens of Villa d'Este at Tivoli in Italy with two greyhounds at their feet and classical statues above the balustrade behind them. The subject matter which is remotely related to the great love stories of the Renaissance corresponds to the search of a new aesthetic for which the Renaissance offered particularly appropriate models.

321-1899